Difference between revisions of "Geran"

The oldest known mention of the name is found in the inscription on the Menhir of Nambara, dated to the 16th century B.E.B., which credits Nambara, then ruler of a petty kingdom along the upper Ilathw, with <blockquote>''engeli lendes nærth Iglethi Gæran-kôrethin''<br/>‘a great victory (or many victories)<ref>In the Ebrinine dialect of Old Olgish, ''engel'' (''jengíl'' in the dialect of Soskilón) could denote either size or quantity, and number was not yet consistently marked on nouns, ''lendes'' ‘battle’ being a singular form (cf. ''lendis'' in Soskilón). The ''-i'' suffix has been interpreted variably as either signifying plural to ''engel'', yielding a meaning closer to ‘many battles’, as an elative suffix, creating ‘a very great battle’, or as actually part of a second word ''ilendes'', then meaning ‘a great slaughter’.</ref> against the Iglethi of the Gæran-heath’</blockquote> The ''Iglethi'' ‘people of thirst’ are thought to refer to the proto-Yamenaen Kattasi settlers who from ca. 1600 B.E.B. had begun to expand into the Geranian Heath and in the process had driven out the native Geranian population; the name ''Gæran'' itself, however, is presumably much older and originates in the [[Common Geranian|common language of the Geranians]]. It most likely derives from a Common Geranian root ''*gyār-'' ‘extension, reach, plain’ (hence Kal. ''kear'' ‘bed, range’ and Haj. ''gor'' ‘plain, field, garden’), either with the Olgish nominalizing suffix ''-an'', or directly from a form ''*gyārhāɲ'' ‘plain of heather’. The extent of the area so denoted is not known, and it can be presumed that the term was applied somewhat loosely to any region north of the Ilathw, or, by extension, north of Elondor.